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Notes on class readings
The World Wide Web Unleashed (December) A. The web is a communications system—it’s a system for exchanging data over computer networks using special software. a. The web isn’t just a publishing medium or a market for selling stuff, it’s a medium in which many kinds of communication contexts coexist simultaneously. b. There are multiple possibilities for web communications: i. Interpersonal ii. Group iii. Organizational iv. Mass v. Communication vi. Interaction vii. Computation viii. Information delivery B. History of the Internet a. 1989-Tim Berners-Lee a researcher at CERN i. He had previously proposed a system for efficient information sharing within the Physics community ii. His HyperText proposal included: 1. Interface consistent across all platforms, enabling users to access information from many computers 2. Storage of info. in links. Can follow links on a variety of paths for information retrieval iii. 'www interface available by ‘91 iv. Hypertext first coined in ’65—text unconstrained and non-sequential v. Xanadu—system to link all world literature with provisions for automatically paying royalties to authors—key to this was the idea of linking info in non hierarchical ways 1. Hypertext extends the structure of ideas by making chunks of ideas available for inclusion in many parts of multiple texts 2. There is also hypermedia b. US mixed ideas with CERN and the Internet was born in the form of the www interface (1993) i. Mosaic—web with point and click design ii. Exponential growth for the next couple of years Red alert in cyberspace (Virilio)-''' Speed is creating instantaneity which leads to trauma. We need to be concious of the speed of cyberspace and what it's doing to us as human beings-time, space, and humanity. A. Cyberspace is a new perspective—no precedent—tactile perspective B. Information superhighways lead to disorientation a. This disorientation is the negative aspect of information superhighways b. Cyberspace has created instantaneity i. We’re at the end of capitalism, we now trade time and space 1. Speed is impacting us, we are missing other things because we are engaged in a virtual world C. There’s a split between RL and VR, existence loses its reference points a. A trauma is caused b. Consequences for society and democracy '''Cyberspace (Benedikt): '''One of the first to theorize what cyberspace is. Cyberspace is a displacement of the human created objects and ideas of world 3 (stuff and ideas created by humans, social artifacts, culture, non-naturally occuring items). Dating turning into online dating. A. Sir Karl Popper, “The world as a whole consists of 3 interconnected worlds…” 1. World 1: the objective world of the material, natural things and their physical properties 2. World 2: Subjective world of consciousness—intentions, calculations, feelings, thoughts, dreams, memories, etc.—it’s in people’s minds 3. World 3: The world of objective, real, and public structures (not necessarily intentional products of the minds of living creatures) and their interactions with the natural world. Many are abstract, such as, social organization or patterns of communication. Human created infrastructures. a. Temples, cathedrals, courts, libraries, language, letters, book pages, CDs, newspapers…all physical manifestations of objects that exist wholly in world 3 b. It’s patterns of pure information c. World 3 structures feed back into and impact worlds 1 and 2 d. Cyberspace is the most recent stage in the evolution of world 3: Cyberspace displaces the items of world 3. B. Benedikt’s 4 threads within the evolution of world 3 a. Thread 1 i. Begins in language and before with the commonness of mind among members of a tribe. Epic, heroic narrative--why young adolescent males tend to be early adopters. ii. The effectiveness relies on the coordinated behavior of the group around a set of beliefs held to be true iii. Myths and mythical themes inform our arts and imaginations but also the way we understand each other, they help shape our lives 1. The young are most impacted—adolescent boys support comic industry iv. Cyberspace’s immateriality and malleability of content provide a tempting stage for the acting out of mythic realities—an extension of our age old capacity and desire to dwell in fiction b. Thread 2 i. The history of the technical means by which absent and/or abstract entities become symbolically represented—conserved through time and space. History of communication media 1. Print revolution a. No limits to where printed material could travel—limit is time/speed 2. Telegraph—first connection via network—limit is expense 3. Telephone eliminated the problems of speed and expense 4. Ability to store info (first tape recorder in 1935) 5. Radio and TV—wireless broadcasting a. Significance of geographical bounds is questioned 6. VR a. With increasing size of the virtual world comes the need for consensus of behavior, iconic language, modes of representation, object physics, protocols, and design—need for cyberspace—need a public, consistent, democratic world c. Thread 3 i. History of architecture-Bendikt is an urban planner, interested in architecture in terms of cyberspace 1. Begins with displacement and exile—creative response to climactic stress 2. Does cyberspace allow us access to the Heavenly city? Can we create a utopia--ideal interactions and life? a. Transcends the physical b. Customizable c. But others influence your created cyberworld 3. Cyberspace will require constant planning and organizing. The structures proliferating within it will require design and the people who design them will be cyberspace architects d. Thread 4 i. History of mathematics- a logic to cyberspace '''Convergence Culture Chapters 1&2, Survivor and American Idol (Jenkins): Convergence- combination of old and new media--combination of different media content. The fact that our media (film, phones, TV, Internet) work together to give us a message, commuication accross platforms. Ex: Harry Potter, Pokemon. Do not confuse with Black Box Fallacy. I. Chapter 1—Spoling Survivor—Knowledge communities a. Spoiling as collective intelligence i. Levy—"No one knows everything, but everyone knows something, all knowledge resides in humanity.” Collective knowledge will lead us to radical democracy. ii. Collective intelligence is the ability of virtual communities to leverage the combined expertise of their members. We have more knowledge as a whole. This knowledge must be accessible at a later time. iii. Communities emerging in cyberspace 1. Communities held together through mutual production and reciprocal exchange of knowledge 2. Sites for discussion, negotiation, and development 3. Communities must scrutinize information that is going to become a part of their shared knowledge 4. The social process of acquiring knowledge holds these communities together iv. Levy—knowledge communities are central to the task of restoring democratic citizenship. New kinds of political power will emerge, challenging the hegemony of the nation state or capitalism. He calls his model of collective intelligence is an ‘achievable utopia’—but we are still learning, we’re exploring and innovating structures that will support the political and economic life in the future. b. Gated knowledge communities i. Brain trusts emerged in the spoiling community—they do investigation through password protected sites. They argue this allows for a higher level of accuracy. ii. Brain trusts are the return of hierarchy to the knowledge culture—they have access to info that others don’t and they command respect and trust c. Living in a knowledge community raises questions about how we know the information we receive is accurate and how do we evaluate it i. Expert paradigm—Walsh 1. The bounded body of knowledge is individually masterable 2. An exterior and interior are created 3. There are rules for accessing and processing information 4. The experts have credentials d. Riley Crane’s Red balloon project II. American Idol—Being sold into reality TV a. Affective economics—emotions driving consumerism i. Lovemarks vs brands ii. For most, 80% of purchasing is done by 20% of the consumer base b. Expressions—how and why consumers react the way they do i. Comodifying tastes 1. You don’t want to be underrepresented or exploited c. Zappers, casuals, and loyals d. Gossip fuels convergence e. More invested in American Idol=more support of it’s sponsors Convergence Culture Chapters 3&4, Transmedia storytelling&Grassroots creativity and the media industry I. '''The Matrix '''a. '''Entertainment for the era of collective intelligence—viewers compare notes and share resources to get a more full experience '''b. '''Transmedia storytelling is across multiple platforms, each text has a distinct and valuable contribution to the whole, but it can also stand alone. '''c. '''Refreshes consumer loyalty '''d. '''There are strong economic motivations behind transmedia storytelling, but the more layers…the smaller the market. This is where the Matrix fell apart..it had too much for the average viewer, but too little for the hardcore fan '''II. '''Grassroots creativity and Star Wars a. The web is a powerful distribution channel for amateurs b. Participation and interactivity c. Media responses to grassroots expression i. Prohibitionist 1. Dominant with old media 2. Regulate and criminalize many forms of fan participation ii. Collaborationists 1. New media companies 2. See fans as important collaborators in the production of content and as grassroots intermediaries to promote their franchise 3. Star Wars a. George Lucas has opened space for fans to create and share their creations, but it is on his own terms b. Free web space at starwars.com c. What they make becomes the studio’s property d. Can use without compensation or remove 4. Men and women create different forms of recreations a. Men make parodies b. Women create fan fiction c. Women’s works don’t fall within the rules and are removed, many don’t know that women even make Star Wars movies d. McCracken—companies that loosen their copyright control will attract more active, committed customers '''Gurak 1&2 I. Gurak Ch. 1—''Cyberliteracy''. How is cyberliteracy different than computer literacy--computer literacy is just the use, cyberliteracy involvoes understanding consequences, having an awareness of what is happening and what this does to us as users. Being an active participant. a. Cyberliteracy: conscious interaction with new technology, it embraces and enjoys technology but is also critical of it. Voicing opinions of what technology should become, be active in the discussion—be more than a user. Involves computer literacy, but being able to read technology and tinker with it. Conciousness about what we are doing in cyberspace. Interactive relationship. Gurak doubts we can ever totally achieve complete cyberliteracy, no absolute way to gain cyberliteracy. b. 2nd orality (Ong): language we use online is a blend of written and spoken word. II. Gurak Ch. 2—''Speed, reach, anonymity, and interactivity''--grasp these things in order to be cyberliterate. Know that time and space are compressed, and understand those consequences. Cyberinteractions increase the speed of communication and interactions and allows us to reach a broad audience. a. Action terms for communication on the Internet—explain our online communication b. ''Details in class notes A''' '''Grammar of Gamework (McAllister)- computer game complex.'' Main topic'': is there a correlation between gaiming and violence? He belives something inbetween, the truth is in the dialectic- not either or, but something with how the two aruments talk to one another. Argues that we need to study computer games because they are cultually forceful like literature and film. Forces: psychological, economic, instructional/pedagogical force- gaming teaches us something. Games are so popular, we should know what they're doing. They're more interactive than TV, he prefers that. Games are a pull medium, and TV is more of a push medium. I. Negative and positive aspects of gaming a. Negative i. Exclusion of primary relationships due to obsession with the game ii. Ignore tendon disorders—carpal tunnel iii. Players play through negative effects because the games work at a subconscious level b. Positive i. Games make players happy ii. Increase sociability iii. Improve critical and strategic thought iv. Can judge relative velocities of objects well v. Quickly evaluate room layouts vi. Emotional outlets c. Gaming blamed for things like Columbine school shootings II. Computer games are an economic force III. Factors of popularity IV. ''Look at class notes Aarseth—Playing research- Need a methodogoly different than that for books, movies, etc. I. Konzak’s framework for game analysis—7 layers of the computer game II. 3 ways to acquire knowledge III. Styles of play/types of gamers (cheater, killer, explorere, socializer, achiever)- different gamers play differently, needs to be factored into analysis. People are usually combinations of styles of players. IV. You must experience the game in order to analyze it—hand on approach gives the best odds for analytical success V. ''Class notes Geocaching: relationship to cybersulture: interaction with RL and VR. Get GPS coordinates, navigate with technology to navigate world 1. So, travel world one with information from world 3. Reliance on technology, use it to pull ourselves out of cyberspace and back into world 1. Technology blinds us when in world 1. A Rape in Cyberspace'' MOO: MUD (multiple user domain) object oriented'' I. Was there a rape? It happened in VR, are there RL consequences? Brings into fruition the mental impacts of virtual and tangible events. a. Woman suffered from PTSD b. No one was physically threatened at any point c. Toading—banishing a player, deleting their account d. Wizards=master programmars, ultimately carry out the toading e. MOO group discussion regarding the toading was held f. Build into the database a system of petitions and ballots whereby anyone could put to popular vote any social scheme requiring a wizard’s ‘powers’. g. @boot command implemented, eject characters II. Class discussion Daniels Chs. 1-5: Epistemology: the study of how beliefs proliferate and emerge. The problem with cyber racism is that it is cloaked, there is deception, changing styles of research, no gatekeeping on this knowledge circulation. The reach is incresed-spreads translocal whiteness. People need to be more critical in their knowledge gathering. Recruitment is NOT the problem, the problem is that these knowledges are re-engrained in our community, undermining the work of the civil rights movement. cloaked website: martinlutherking.org I. Ch. 1: White Supremacy in the Digital Era a. The Internet facilitates publications and distribution of white supremacist discourse and ideology for those committed to producing it and increases its availability to those interested in reading it b. A primary benefit is that the Internet cheaply and widely spreads information. Also has the potential for recruitment. c. Online supremacy can lead to violence, harassment, and intimidation in RL d. Concern for youth and their research online II. Ch. 2: Theorizing White Supremacy Online—David Duke and Don Black a. Identity tourism: trying on the descriptors usually applied to persons of another race or gender b. Online invisibility assumes the Internet is solely text based c. Words can do harm-hate speech, MOO d. Recruitment i. Tech-savvy youth aren’t likely to get recruited, yet many kids have difficulty distinguishing cloaked supremacist sites from legitimate sites ii. Face to face recruitment is the most effective III. Ch. 3: Individual Acts of White Supremacy Online a. Richard Machado i. He needed not be white nor mentally ill to do what he did. He just needed to grow up in the US, and adapt to the dominant culture’s white racial frame IV. Ch. 4: White Supremacist Social Movements Online and in a Global Context a. Social movements are concentrated on cultural values b. White supremacy i. Federal government is the primary enemy ii. Globalization is a huge threat iii. Backlash against feminisms, gays, and racial or ethnic minorities iv. Promotes and intolerant affirmation of the superiority of Christian values v. Translocal whiteness 1. Racial identity shaped by global information flow 2. Rooted in core American values and drawing upon the rhetoric that aligns itself with the founding fathers and seeking to transcend national boundaries and exert a global reach. vi. Digital diasporas 1. The way online communities shape racial and ethnic identities constructed at the intersection of technologies and globalization V. Ch. 5: Gender, White Supremacy, and the Internet a. Women at stormfront i. Women create their own space online 1. Sense of liberalism 2. Speak against men 3. Abortions 4. Feel powerless in comparison to the men ii. Core of white supremacist discourse in print only era –sexual dominance of white men over others Daniels 7&8 I. Ch. 7: Cloaked Websites a. Cloaked websites are published by individuals or groups who conceal authorship or intention in order to deliberately disguise a hidden political agenda b. The epistemological threat to the cultural value of racial equality along with the absence of both critical thinking about race and a vibrant movement toward racial equality that Daniels sees as the biggest threat posed by white supremacy online—it’s especially threatening for generations born after the civil rights era c. Black propaganda: false material, source is disguised d. Gray propaganda: source is unidentified e. White propaganda: real source identified f. The Internet has a leveling effect that renders one source as valid as another because they are accessible via the same media i. This makes visual cues—graphic design and page layout key for assessing credibility g. Domain name registration II. Ch. 8—Adolescents making sense of cloaked websites a. Reliance on the order of search results to determine legitimacy b. Suffix of web address--.org is trusted c. Lack of understand of the civil rights era d. Examine digital photographs and visual cues to determine which sites are cloaked and which aren’t—better web design would make cloaked sites harder to pinpoint as white supremacist sites e. Hang ups on bias, thinking there are two sides to everything, say cloaked sites are one bias f. Recruitment is not a threat, the threat is the epistemological hazard—the danger that ideas and values of racial equality with be undermined and eroded. Gurak 4&5 I. Ch. 4—Genders and virtualities a. Cyberspace is gendered i. Articles in engineering magazine00from the boss’ lap ii. Flaming is a male characteristic iii. Marketing plays up genders—pink and blue laptops II. Ch. 5—Humor, hoaxes, and legends in Cyberspace a. Hoax: false, deliberately deceptive information, includes pranks i. Chain letters can be hoaxes ii. Contain a hook, threat, and request b. Hackers i. The ethos is flaming ii. Speed, reach, and anonymity—key features of online communication 1. Think before posting 2. Teach new users what to look out for The Hacktivist I. Hacktivism a. Hacking for a political, social purpose. Not just vandalism. Done by people who have a deep technological knowledge. Cyborg Manifesto I. RR clarification—link posted by the link for the actual document II. Cyberfeminism: how gender hierarchy works and is maintained. How genderd ideals and norms are recreated and displaced into cyberspace. III. Haraway says we are all already cyborgs. We have to deal with that reality, aknowledge it. Technologies undestand social policy, government, education.The feminist part is that we are already part bio part machine, if we don't own that machinery part, we will be dominated by opressive machines. We need to aknowledge this associate, understand it and embrace it. We should realize how they can be used in good ways to protect our humanness.'' Fotoshop by Adobe''(non-innocence was that the women were still beautiful, there wasn't a broad range of gender)- ironic, blasphemous way to creatively use technology and change it's purpose. Arab Spring revolts use technology ironic and blasphemous ways, they were a step ahead, turning off the technology benefitted them after they had used the technology. If we use technology in these ways- this has an outcome that is non-innocence, we need to be aware of the consequences. There could be RL consequences--Hollaback gone wrong example. Jenkins final chapters—democracy ''' I. Photoshop for Democracy—politics and pop culture a. 2004 campaign was a period of innovation and experimentation in the use of new media and pop-culture based strategies b. Empowerment age: average citizens challenge power of entrenched institutions—information is power c. Blogging as a form of grassroots convergence i. Like spoilers(They release information that is trying to be kept quiet)—track down info but also try to shape future events, use the info they have found to intervene in the democratic process d. Amateur parodies can circulate widely e. Groups with high visibility (MTV) push young people toward participation i. 20 million loud campaign f. Monitoring citizen: needs to develop skills, critical skills for information assessment, individual and collective—through knowledge communities g. For democracy there needs to be a sense that participant actions have an consequence within the community h. Democracy might face dangers from the emergence of communication niches i. Growth in specialized intellectual subcultures—serves only special interests, not the community ii. Fractionation of society II. Democratizing TV—the politics of participation a. Convergence culture enables new forms of participation i. Still defining the terms under which we can participate ii. We are learning to use this power individually and collectively b. Media concentration is bad i. Stifles competition, puts media industries above consumer demands, lowers diversity ii. Raises the barriers of participation '''Gurak 6 I. Privacy and Copyright in digital space a. Companies monitor consumer habits online—cookies b. No policies to deal with online privacy c. EU directive—orgs must: i. Identify themselves ii. Indentify their purpose iii. Disclose who could receive the info iv. Explain subject rights d. Copyright notes on 1/25 notes link Social Networking Websites and Teen Texts I. 55% of teens have online profiles II. Girls reinforce relationships with these profiles, boys find new relationships with them III. Only 17% flirt—interesting considering the purpose of creating Facebook Jenkins (politics in the age of YouTube) I. Democratic Debate a. Gave American public a seat at the table, YouTube videos selected, asked questions of candidates and we answered in the debate b. Bloggers complain that there was heavy moderation of the questions—say questions were chosen to be fluffy and light. This reinforced old media idea that Internet entertains, but doesn’t offer serious discussion and insight c. YouTube functions i. Key for grassroots production and distribution ii. Media archive iii. Relates to other social networks d. Colbert report and Daily show foster civic literacy, teach viewers to be skeptical e. Downside to digital democracy i. Participation is unevenly distributed across the culture—open platforms don’t ensure diversity ii. Speed causes short-lived, superficial conversations iii. Increased parody—online parody embraces epistemology of white supremacy with themes like racism, sexism, and xenophobia—this discourages minority participation Love.com I. Online matchmaking quadruples revenue from ’01-‘02 II. Record 40% of adults are single III. Companies look at ‘can’t stands’, refute the ideas that it’s our best qualities that bring us together IV. Intelligence, curiosity, and energy are key factors in a successful partnership V. Safety is/should be a constant concern for online daters because no questions asked reveal criminal records and/or lying tendencies, although this is being worked on